Are Smart Devices Always Listening? The Siri and Google Assistant Privacy Debate

Late at night, Mariam was making tea when she casually said, “Ah, it’s cold today.”Suddenly, her phone responded, “Would you like to check the weather forecast?”She froze. She hadn’t expected any sound, especially since she was alone and hadn’t said “Hey Siri.” That’s when the question hit her—who’s listening, and when?

Smart voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa have become part of our daily lives. We summon them to check the time, search the web, or set reminders. But behind this seamless convenience lies a recording and analysis system that most users don’t fully understand, especially when it starts and when it stops.

Recent reports have revealed that some voice recordings are stored and sent for review by human employees to improve service quality. While companies claim this is done without linking recordings to user identities, real-life examples show that some clips are deeply personal: food orders, private conversations, even family arguments.

One of the strongest recent cases was reported by Reuters earlier this year. Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing Siri of recording users without their knowledge or consent and using those recordings for marketing purposes.

These kinds of cases bring us back to one essential question: Do our voices still truly belong to us?

How to protect your voice:

• Go to your device settings and disable “always listening” features like “Hey Siri” or “OK Google.”

• Manually delete voice logs from privacy settings.

• Make sure no microphones are active unnecessarily.

• Keep smart assistants out of bedrooms and private conversation areas.

Talking to your device might be convenient, but your comfort should never come at the cost of your privacy.Your voice belongs to you; keep it that way.